Cuba

Black Fathers

Kirsten Gillibrand

June 15, 2009

New York's junior Senator Kirsten Gillibrand [left] tells New York magazine that she loves journalists and journalism and that she, in fact, would have been a journalist had law not been her first passion.

Then came the disclosure that gave pause:

"Did I tell you if I wasn’t a lawyer, I wanted to be a journalist? I love getting at the truth. My favorite is Greta Van Susteren [photo, right].”

Almost right away, the senator realized the admission might not sit well with progressives and others who have complained about her con and neo-con positions when she was an upstate Congresswoman (before being appointed by Gov. Paterson to take Sen. Hillary Clinton's place).

The author (Stephen Rodrick) writes: "For a fleeting moment, a look of concern comes over Gillibrand’s face, and she touches my arm. 'Is this going to be okay?'”

We here thought Van Susteren was great when she was at CNN ages ago. Loved her. But we stopped watching her, almost in our tracks, when she went to Fox in 2002. It wasn't just the off-putting facial surgery, which made it seem she was turning over personality as well as reputation to right-wing Fox, that put us off.

It was the newly adopted, blatantly contrived TV tabloid Fox tough-talking style that made it impossible for us to watch or listen.

By the way, the Van Susteren angle is way at the bottom of the New York article.

It is an often effective technique, especially in longish feature-style pieces, to include the most awkwardly revealing comments or moments at the very end, as Rodrick did in this profile of Gillibrand.